by Paul Hunt<\/strong><\/p>\n Photos by Wayne Braby unless otherwise noted.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n A note about the photos. \u00a0About the time I originally wrote this article, my friend Wayne Braby offered me his glorious photos of the Hollywood Bookshops you will see in this article, never before published to my knowledge. \u00a0Wayne was in contact with Muir Dawson of Dawson’s Book Shop, and I have a letter from Muir discussing the possibility of Wayne writing a book for Dawson on the subject of the Hollywood book stores. \u00a0I don’t think this project was ever completed, hence Wayne gave me his photos. Wayne Braby was a bookseller, specializing in Military History. \u00a0When I knew him, he was working out of his house in Santa Monica. \u00a0His wife was a librarian in Santa Monica, a very literary family! I hope you greatly enjoy these wonderful photographs showing a long-lost world.<\/em><\/p>\n Getting back to the subject at hand, all the shops on Hollywood Boulevard have the same problem to a greater or lesser degree, so I would like to propose a solution to this over-crowding phenomenon. \u00a0It can only be met by an aggressive policy of continuous expansion, i.e., get more books then get more space then get more books and so on. \u00a0The bookshops will slowly expand until they are adjoining one another, and the future will bring the glorious scene of Hollywood Boulevard becoming one giant bookstore, all connected with interior passageways. \u00a0You could enter at, say La Brea, and not surface again until a week later at Argyle. \u00a0Pack a snack.<\/p>\n (Note how wrong I was on that prediction. \u00a0Wishful thinking to the max. \u00a0There’s now only<\/em> one bookstore left on Hollywood Blvd., Larry Edmunds, specializing in motion picture history. \u00a0All others gone, a near complete wipe-out of our past cultural repositories.)<\/em><\/p>\n But for now you will have to be content to hoof it up and down the street, seeking out the bookshops individually. \u00a0To help you with this chore, I will take you on a short guided tour, possibly introducing you to some shops that have until now escaped your attention. \u00a0We will start on the north side of Hollywood Boulevard from Highland and go east until we reach Argyle, then return on the south side of the street. \u00a0You will probably need several days to accomplish this when you do it for real; it is not a feat that can be performed in one day and also be enjoyed, unless of course, your will power is like unto Superman and you are the only person on earth who can walk into even the smallest bookshop and resist the urge to browse thoroughly through the beckoning stacks. \u00a0The mere mention of Superman brings us to our first stop, COLLECTOR’S BOOK STORE, aka BENNETT’S,<\/strong> home of the rare comic book.<\/p>\n